Strip cabbage of its outer leaves; rinse the head well and pat dry.
Now slice the cabbage in half through its tough, fibrous core with a long, sturdy knife.
Cut each half in half again through the core. This will expose the core to make it easy to remove.
Holding each cabbage quarter upright, remove the tough core.
Now you can slice the cabbage into long, thin strips for slaws, salads, soups or stews or thicker strips for braises and sautés.
Tofu is a block of pressed soybean curd. Like many things, tofu originated in China and figures in Chinese and Japanese cuisine, as well as being coveted by vegetarians of all nationalities for its high protein (and nonexistent cholesterol).
Neutral-tasting tofu tends to take on the flavor of whatever it's cooked with, kind of like chicken. It comes in many guises, including soft and firm, dried and processed.
A versatile ingredient, tofu can be eaten raw, cubed and marinated and added to salads or stir-fried dishes at the last minute (it holds its shape but must be treated with some delicacy). Or it can be cut into slices and fried until crispy. Tofu can also be mashed up and used to make non-dairy desserts, like "cheese"-cake.
For soups, stews and stir-frys, it's easiest to cut tofu into cubes, small or large. Cubes have flat sides that make good contact with the pan, and brown well. Browning the cubes on all four sides in a non-stick skillet is a good way to improve tofu's bland reputation. Since most tofu comes in rectangular blocks, cubing it is easy to do.Start by cutting the block in half.Depending on what size cubes you want, cut each half in half (2 cuts -- one on each side of the first cut) or into thirds (4 cuts -- 2 on each side of the first cut).Rotate the block 90 degrees and repeat.To make the final cut, you can either hold the knife parallel to the cutting board and slide it through the center, or turn the tofu up on end and slice perpendicular to the cutting board like you see here. It's not hard to keep the pieces together if you use both hands.
Ginger's brown outer peel looks tough, but it's not. It's so thin and light that you don't need a knife or vegetable peeler to peel it.
To start, break or cut off the the amount of ginger you need. Slice off any small protruding limbs to make the main piece easier to peel.
Hold the piece of ginger in one hand. With the tip of a spoon, scrape away the ginger's peel.
You'll be surprised by how little effort it takes to remove it. Because spoon tip is dull, it easily takes off the soft peel without wasting much of the aromatic flesh.
Once you've peeled the ginger, you're ready to prep it further.
Reference: How much is a thumb of ginger? (Cookthink)
Reference: How to mince ginger (Cookthink)
